The Stage

ACE earmarks £700k to develop outer London venues

Published Tuesday 13 February 2007 at 12:35 by Alistair Smith

Arts Council England has announced that it is to focus around £700,000 of venue development funding on theatres in outer London during the next three years.

The organisation’s London office will distribute £230,000 a year until 2010 to six venues. The Broadway Barking, Croydon Clocktower, Drama Centre Redbridge, Jackson’s Lane and Stratford Circus will each receive £40,000 per year, while Millfield Arts Centre has been granted £30,000 annually. However, while the funding is guaranteed for the first of the three years, the final two will be dependent on the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review when ACE discovers how much cash it will receive from the government until 2011.

ACE London executive director Sarah Weir commented: “This three year fixed-term funding gives six smaller theatres with big ambitions the opportunity to reach out to more people in more places with a broad range of imaginative and thought-provoking theatrical work. We are delighted to be enabling this to happen in areas of London where there are often less opportunities for people to get involved in the arts on their doorstep.”

The venue development fund was established following ACE’s Theatre Review in 2001 and the latest awards are the third of their kind. This year, the fund has refocused specifically to support venues in outer London in order to address what ACE calls “historic under-investment” and to respond to changing demographics in these areas.

The investment will be used on a number of projects including the development of the Broadway’s youth theatre, Croydon Clocktower’s aim to establish a youth circus and disability-focused work at both Millfield and Jackson’s Lane.